See who I am
by elveriamoir
Summary: Our Dori is one very under loved dwarf wouldn't you all agree. A collection of short stories and one-shots of Dori of Ri. I blame FanFictionQueen for this.
1. Chapter 1

_**AN: I don't own any of the hobbit characters I am just taking them out of Tolkien's toy box and playing with them.**_

Dori.

Dori groaned as he straightened his aching back, having spent the day sorting through his stock in the back room he wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep. He was tired but the thought of who waited for him at home brought a smile to his face. Ori had been accepted for an apprenticeship with the kingdom historian, working for the last three weeks and Nori was due home from his trading trip. In fact Dori was surprised that his middle brother hadn't come storming to the shop when he had found no-one home. With a final glance around the back room Dori left the shop carefully locking the door behind him. He whistled a merry song as he turned down one of the narrow streets leading to his home. A shout of pain caught his attention and the broken hearted sobbing that followed it had him turning his feet towards the sound. His happy smile was replaced with a sullen frown that turned into a scowl as harsh mocking laughter filled the air. He picked up his pace and rounded the corner at almost a run. The gathered dwarves were already scattering at his royally annoyed roar, in the middle of the street desperately trying to gather his papers together was Dori's baby brother. There was blood running down the smaller dwarf's face but Dori noticed with a hint of pride that despite the blood and tears his brother had obviously fought back the running dwarves and Ori's bloody knuckles were an obvious indicator of this. He calmed and helped Ori pick up the parchment before took the still shaking dwarf under his arm and leading the sniffling dwarfling back to their home.

Hours later Dori was sitting at the kitchen table, head in his hands and a cold cup of tea on the table in front of him. as he'd checked Ori over for worse injury Dori had noticed fading bruises and scratches littering the child's torso, he fought back murderous rage at the defeated look in scared brown eyes and instead of scolding the lad from not coming to him soon had merely helped him into bed and sat with him until he fell asleep. Dori could understand why his baby brother hadn't come straight to him, but he was worried, at first he'd thought Ori getting the apprenticeship was a good thing, but at some point during Ori's distraught sobbing he'd found out that the bullying had only started since he had accepted the role. Dori groaned and buried his head deeper into his hands, on top of that Nori was still not home and with it dark outside and Ori in such a fragile state Dori didn't dare go look for him. A loud pounding on the door had him bolting to answer it. He gasped in shock when he pulled the heavy wood open, Nori stood on the doorstep swaying slightly. Dori caught him as he reeled forward, missing neither the smell of booze on the younger's breath nor the wince as his hands closed on the narrow shoulder. He said nothing however and merely steered his brother to the table, before pottering around and putting a fresh pot of tea on the table. He kept up his comforting silence as Nori finally started to talk. Dori bit back his rage and heart break as he listened to his younger brother spilling his heart out. He knew Nori wouldn't be talking if he wasn't drunk, but Dori had to admit he could feel his own heart breaking for his brother. As he listened he found out Nori had joined the underground when he was but a mere forty decades old to protect their now deceased mother and father. The money he had been bringing home wasn't from trade but from illegal activities, Dori's emotions were bouncing from pillar to post as he listened. Nori had tried to leave the gang when their parents died, but the leaders had then threatened Ori. Nori's response to that was the reason they hadn't seen him for a couple of months without any news. He'd been forced to take the gang's tattoo and he'd started to distance himself from his family. Nori started sobbing and Dori still stayed silent merely pulling the auburn haired dwarf into a hug. Nori kept talking through his tears ad Dori found out that he was late because he'd tried to burn the gang's degrading mark from his own skin that night, then drank himself stupid to try and erase the pain. Dori tucked his younger brother into bed that night after seeing to his bleeding shoulder. As dawn crept onwards outside Dori stood vigil over his damaged kin. He would not let them down again.

Three weeks passed and Dori never let his guard down once. He refrained from questioning either brother, instead being there with healing herbs and a shoulder to cry on if they needed one. Ori was spending the day with Historian Balin and Nori had gone to try and talk yet more of his contacts into leaving the gang, so Dori was alone as he opened up the shop. He froze as the walls around him trembled, followed by a ferocious roar and the screams of terror and pain. He stared as guards began rounding people up ushering them to the exits. Dori forced his way through the panicking crowds towards the only guard he recognised, it had to be bad if Guardsman Dwalin were down here rather than with his shield brother the Prince Thorin. Dwalin caught his eyes and his own widened as he realised Dori was alone, yet he ignore the older dwarf's protests shunting him along with the crowds without a word. Dori fought back half-heartedly all the way. It wasn't until two weeks later he finally found Ori amongst the crowds of now displaced dwarves. It wasn't until they reached the Blue Mountains that he found out Nori was still alive. It wasn't until they had settled into Ered Luin that he finally saw his middle brother. As Dori held his sobbing brothers close he offered thanks to Mahal that they had all survived.

When Ori came to him and told him he was joining Thorin's venture to take back Erebore, Dori merely nodded and started to pack their belongs. If he knew his brother's the Nori would also sign up. They would be together again, and that was the only way Dori would have it.


	2. Tailor

_**AN: I do not own any of the characters or places in the hobbit, they belong to Professor Tolkien and he would kill me for how I have corrupted them. **_

Tailor.

Dori hummed as he worked, a smile on his full lips and a sparkle in his eye. He enjoyed his work and when he was creating for someone he cared about then it was all the more fun. He did hope his One would enjoy his present. He looked up and caught sight of said dwarf through the door leading into the kitchen of the house they now shared. He swallowed as he realised the miner's braids were undone and he was dressed in only his light linen under trousers. His eyes greedily traced the dark lines of tattoos that covered his One's back and disappeared under the waistband of said trousers. Even after thirty years Dori would never get enough of Bofur's body. He loved to run his fingers through the now silver streaked dusky hair, and the sounds it got him if he tugged it just right. He loved to trace the lines swirling over the pale skin with his hands, his teeth, his lips and his tongue almost as much as he relished the breathy sigh it got him. He watched as his One stretched and licked his lips as the muscles made the tattoos dance. Silently Dori pushed his work to the side and stepped around the table. He had months to finish his anniversary gift to Bofur, right now he wanted the miner's sweet kisses and the feel of downy skin under his fingers.

_**AN: Leave me a review and let me know what you think please. **_


	3. Tealeaves

_**AN: I do not own any of the characters or places in The Hobbit, they belong to Professor Tolkien and he would kill me for how I have corrupted them. **_

_**AN: Leave me a review and let me know what you think please. **_

Tealeaves.

He had built his business around the dried remains of green leaves and he had been a booming success. From selling to his own king to having the goods transported across Arda there was no end in the demand for stock from Ri's Teas.

Then the dragon had came and he had not only lost his home, but his business as well and while Dori tried to tell himself that while his brothers were alive he wouldn't mourn the loss of something he had grown from a simple trade between friends he found himself longing for the day someone, anyone would appreciate just how much work he had found burnt to a cinder beneath the breath of a fire drake.

The only tea he drank for years was a healing brew made by Oin or a weak brew from the few leaves he managed to scavenge occasionally.

Then he had walked into a burrow in a place named The Shire, and he vaguely remembered the name from his trade reports. First he had found the young looking owner of the burrow had heard of his business and was actually excited about meeting him. Then he had been provided with a dark, sweet smelling tea, accompanied by a selection of sides he could add if he wished.

He swore as the hobbit stared down his (hopefully) soon-to-be king that one day he would resurrect Ri's Teas and Master Bilbo Baggins would have his tea, any tea he wished for, supplied free for the rest of his life.


	4. Songs

_**AN: I do not own any of the characters or places in The Hobbit, they belong to Professor Tolkien and he would kill me for how I have corrupted them. **_

Songs.

If he closed his eyes and listened hard enough Dori could still hear his Amad singing softly as she swept about the kitchen. He could still see her belly straining at the front of her dress and Nori watching her, green eyes wide and a thumb in his mouth.

When he was raising Nori and Ori alone the only time they would both be quiet was when he sang to them and since he found it no hardship he did so at every opportunity.

When the dwarves of Erebor had been wandering the wilds he found many with baurch or maukk would sit in a circle around him as he sang Ori and often Nori to sleep. His words drew pictures of torch lit halls and warming fires, or told of the great feasts of the past and he was often surrounded by a circle of dozing dwarrows and their young when his voice reached its limit.

When they had started to make a home within the walls of Ered Luin he found he missed the company. Before long the young ones found him and he could be found with a swarm of them following him around as he sung under his breath. Soon he learnt they all had a favourite and when they deemed him safe would demand it of him, climbing over him and grabbing at his braids. He would find himself chuckling and despite being dishevelled ad ran off his feet would find time to sit and sing to them.

He sung to both his brothers the night before they were due to leave in answer to Thorin's call to retake Erebor. Nori never moved from his perch across the room, but Ori had curled into his side as he sung of going home. It was only when he opened his eyes that his brain registered the weight against his shins and he smiled down softly at the golden and dark heads of the princes who had snuck in to listen and dozed off to his voice as if they were but children again.

The next time he sang they were underway after having collected their burglar and he had forced down a blush when he discovered many of the elder dwarves traveling in the Company had taken time out of busy schedules to listen to him sing in the past. He almost lost his words when Balin of all people requested a song, but the calm that came over his heart as he saw the peace in fourteen pairs of eyes eased him and he was enough himself to joke when he had finished.

After that there had been little time for singing until Rivendell and Dori had found himself humming an old ballad. He had blinked in surprise when Balin joined in the song and then found himself smiling despite the warning in the song.

_**AN: Leave me a review and let me know what you think please. **_

_**baurch –daughters.**_

_**Maukk-sons**_


	5. So I Got My Boots On

_**AN: I do not own any of the characters or places in The Hobbit, they belong to Professor Tolkien and he would kill me for how I have corrupted them. **_

So I got my boots on.

Dori kicked his feet into the sandy soil under the swing he and his friends had made from a couple of pieces of rope and an old branch. His friends had gotten bored of sitting and swaying backwards and forwards, suspended from the branch of the ancient Walnut tree on the gentle slopes leading up to the sides of Erebor. He hadn't. He enjoyed the solitude and the peace, oh so different to the perpetual clammer and chatter of the mountain halls. He loved to kick off his boots and dig his toes into the soil warmed by the sun as playful breezes pulled at his new braids. When he was feeling particularly adventurous he would even climb the old Walnut tree, boots abandoned by the trunk.

Then the dragon came and he discovered the outside world gave little time to wander barefooted and so he became ever so proper. His brothers never showed the same urge to wander bare footed and he never confided in anyone his desire to feel sun warmed soil under his feet or the rough bark of a tree branch scraping at the tender skin.

He eyed the hobbit's feet with disbelief when the small male joined their mad quest. He had walked on ground less forgiving than the current terrain that had hurt his bare feet. Soon though he was drawn to the friendly nature of the other and found himself revealing how he had spent many an afternoon when they could still call Erebor home.

He had though the lad had forgotten his words until he wandered from the doors of Erebor nearly a year after their hobbit had left them to mourn their king and princes. There, in nearly the exact same spot as his Walnut tree was a tiny sapling. Throwing propriety to the wind Dori raced down the gentle hill to fall on his knees beside the shoot. His eyes filled with tears as he read the inscription on the metal plaque the hobbit had managed to carve. Simple and to the point like their burglar, it read:

"May this Oak grow tall and mighty to bring joy to those who will play in its shelter."

_**AN: Leave me a review and let me know what you think please. **_


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